en desirous to illustrate their
ecclesiastical title. Any one who peruses the letters of Cyprian may
remark the frequency, as well as the transparent satisfaction, with
which he refers to the mode of his appointment. Who, he seems to say,
could doubt his right to act as bishop of Carthage, seeing that he had
been chosen by "the suffrage of the whole fraternity"--by "the vote of
the people?" [593:2] The members of the Church enthusiastically
acknowledged such appeals to their sympathy and support, and in cases of
emergency promptly rallied round the individuals whom they had
themselves elevated to power. But as all the other church officers were
meanwhile likewise chosen by common suffrage, the bishops soon betrayed
an anxiety to appropriate the distinction, and began, under various
pretexts, to interfere with the free exercise of the popular franchise.
In one of his epistles Cyprian excuses himself to the Christians of
Carthage because he had ventured to ordain a reader without their
approval. He pleads that the peculiar circumstances of the case and the
extraordinary merits of the candidate must be accepted as his apology.
"In clerical ordinations," says he, "my custom is to _consult you
beforehand_, dearest brethren, _and in common deliberation_ to weigh the
character and merits of each. But testimonies of men need not be awaited
when anticipated by the sentence of God." [593:3] The sanction of the
people should have been obtained before the ordination; but, as
persecution now raged, it is suggested that it would have been
inconvenient to lay the matter before them; and Cyprian argues that the
informality was pardonable, inasmuch as the Almighty himself had given
His suffrage in favour of the new lector; for Aurelius, though only a
youth, had nobly submitted to the torture rather than renounce the
gospel.

The ordination of Aurelius under such circumstances was not, however, a
solitary case; and there is certainly something suspicious in the
frequency with which the bishop of Carthage apologizes to the clergy and
people for neglecting to consult them on the appointment of church
officers. In another of his letters he announces to the presbyters and
deacons that, "on an _urgent occasion_" he had "made Saturus a reader,
and Optatus the confessor a sub-deacon." [594:1] Again, he tells the
same parties, and "the whole people," that "Celerinus, renowned alike
for his courage and his character, has been joined to the clergy